Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Q&A

Q&A: Changing jobs? Think about transferring your retirement fund

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Dear Liz: I’m a government employee with a 403(b) supplemental retirement plan. I’m taking a new job out of state and wonder what to do with the money in this account. Should I leave it in the plan, which has been doing great, or transfer it to my new employer’s plan? Also, I have a little money, about $8,000, in a 457(b) deferred compensation plan that I would like to remove for simplicity. Can I transfer this into a brokerage IRA without any tax hit?

Answer: You mention that your current plan has been “doing great,” but it would be surprising if that weren’t the case. As of mid-October, the one-year return for the Standard & Poor’s 500 market benchmark was about 34%.

If your new employer’s plan is a good one, then transferring your money there could be a great option since you’d have fewer accounts to manage and monitor. How can you tell if a plan is good? You’ll see a number of low-cost investment options with expense ratios well under 1%. If you’re a teacher, you can find ratings of school district 403(b) plans at the nonprofit 403bwise (https://403bwise.org/).

You’re allowed to roll your deferred compensation plan into an IRA or your new employer’s retirement plan. You may want to keep the money where it is, however. Once you leave an employer, you’re allowed to access a 457(b) plan at any age without paying a 10% early withdrawal penalty. That could be a perk worth keeping.

Q&A: Big banks can cause big headaches when it comes to retitling accounts

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Dear Liz: Someone recently asked whether to make a bank account “payable on death” or put it in their living trust. Our bank has refused to allow us to retitle our accounts so we can have them in our trust. Is “payable on death” our only option?

Answer: No, but you may need to move your accounts to another firm.

Some large national banks do balk at retitling bank accounts, notes Jennifer Sawday, an estate planning attorney in Long Beach. By contrast, many smaller banks, credit unions and big brokerage firms have no problem retitling accounts to living trusts.

If your bank isn’t willing to help you now, just imagine how difficult it will make matters for your loved ones after you die and they need to access your accounts, Sawday says.

If you’re reluctant to leave your big bank entirely, consider keeping a small amount of money in a day-to-day checking account while putting the bulk of your cash in a more trust-friendly bank.

Q&A: An aging relative is spending her nest egg on round-the-clock care. What happens when the money runs out?

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Dear Liz: A family member is 90 and lives by herself at home. She has around-the-clock caregivers paid for by her investment accounts. Her teacher pension pays for all everyday expenses. She is high maintenance and unwilling to accept she will one day run out of money for caregivers. What would you suggest?

Answer: That depends on how much money she has, and why you’re asking.

In-home, round-the-clock care can be mind-bogglingly expensive. The median cost nationally for 24/7 at-home caretaking was about $24,000 a month in 2023, according to Genworth’s latest “Cost of Care” survey. By contrast, the median cost for a private room in a nursing home was closer to $10,000 a month.

Not many people could pay for around-the-clock care for long, but your relative may be one of the exceptions. If she has enough savings to pay for care for a few years, then perhaps she’s making the calculated gamble that she’ll run out of breath before she runs out of cash. (And if she’s the suspicious type, she may be convinced your concern is more for your potential inheritance than her well-being.)

Once her resources are depleted, though, her situation could become pretty bleak. Her income may be too high to qualify for Medicaid, the government program that otherwise might pay for nursing home care. (In California, the program is known as Medi-Cal.) Perhaps her home could be sold to pay her care. If not, she might have to turn to relatives for financial help.

If you’re one of the relatives she would turn to, then you can certainly let her know how much help you could afford to give her, if any. But first, suggest a session with an elder law attorney who can review her situation, calculate how long her resources might last and offer suggestions for managing her care bills. She may be more willing to listen to a professional third party than to her family. You can get referrals from the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys at www.naela.org.

Q&A: Beware foreign transaction fees when using credit cards abroad

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Dear Liz: I have a question regarding the use of credit cards for foreign transactions. Are the card companies required to use a certain exchange rate? I’ve used two different cards, and the one that charges a fee used a better exchange rate. The total cost to me, including the fee, was less than the other card. How can I find out what exchange rates are used?

Answer: You can always ask. Credit card companies may use a number of different exchange rates. Often they use the ones set by their payment networks, such as Visa or Mastercard, or by their issuing banks.

Keep in mind that exchange rates are constantly changing. Unless you used the two cards within a relatively short period, it would be hard to draw conclusions about which got the better rate. Also, you will get a much worse deal if you ever agree to a “dynamic currency conversion” that charges the transaction in U.S. dollars rather than the prevailing currency. When offered the choice, opt for the charge to be in the local currency.

Most travelers find they’re better off using a credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. These fees are typically just another profit center for the issuing banks.

Q&A: A follow-up question about payable on death accounts

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Dear Liz: I’ve worked for various broker dealers for 33 years and have never heard of a “payable on death” account. Did you mean transfer on death (TOD) in your previous column?

Answer: I did not.

Payable on death accounts are similar to transfer on death accounts since both allow owners to designate beneficiaries and avoid probate, the court process that otherwise follows death. But the two accounts are meant for different types of assets. Bank accounts use the payable on death designation, while investment accounts are transfer on death. Some states have transfer on death registration for vehicles and transfer on death deeds for real estate.

Q&A: You can’t spend it when you’re gone, but delaying Social Security payments makes sense

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Dear Liz: I’m a single person with no children. I worked for one private employer for 36 years, retired from there at 54 and am now 57. My home is paid off. I receive a pension of $2,400. I’ve been working a nearly full-time job averaging $3,800 a month with 8% going into a 401(k) and 4% being matched. I have observed many fellow workers wait till 65 to collect Social Security and then die a few years later. I also volunteer at my local VFW and listen to people complain about the lack of money they have, especially the women, who unfortunately relied on their dead husbands. So would it be bad for me to start collecting my Social Security at 63?

I am a very healthy person and longevity is in the family.

Answer: Some people do die shortly after retiring. Most, though, live well past the “break-even” age, when the smaller checks they give up by delaying Social Security are more than made up for by the larger checks they receive by waiting.

And the ones who die early … well, they’re dead. They no longer care about Social Security checks. The ones who care intensely about how much they’re getting are those who survive and run through their savings. Perhaps some of the women at the VFW had husbands who started their retirement benefits early, thus stunting the survivors’ checks their wives are getting. A few years’ delay could have made a huge difference to these women, who may have to live for years or even decades on a too-small benefit.

That’s why it’s so important for the higher earner in a couple to delay starting Social Security as long as possible, preferably to age 70, when their benefit maxes out. That’s also good advice for single folks who haven’t been previously married and don’t have another person’s benefit to supplement their own.

Plus, starting Social Security before your full retirement age of 67 means you’re subject to the earnings test. That test reduces your check by $1 for every $2 you make over a certain amount, which in 2024 is $22,320.

Your good health and family longevity don’t guarantee a long life, but they certainly make it more likely. Maximizing your Social Security benefit is a powerful way to ensure you don’t run short of money in your old age.